"He's certainly something." Rouge commented as she peered at Super from a distance. Despite the glass holding so far, no one was keen to take more of a risk then they had to. Super growled at her and glared.
Tails looked up from where he was looking over the readings he was getting from the machine. "It's best not to get him all worked up Rouge. I don't wanna push our luck." Tails flicked an ear, frowning as he looked over at Super. It was… hard for him to see his brother like this. Not knowing how to help and not knowing how Sonic was doing. Was he even aware? What was it like for him? Tails privately hoped that Sonic didn't know what was happening; though he wouldn't hold his breath for that to be the case. Plus they'd have to tell him anyway, so it's not like it would spare him from knowing eventually.
"THE HEDGEHOG IS NO LONGER A THREAT, THEREFORE ANTAGONIZATION IS NOT A POOR COURSE OF ACTION. IT IS AN ACCEPTABLE SUBSTITUTE FOR DESTROYING THE ENEMY SINCE YOU CONTINUE TO PREVENT ME FROM DOING SO." Omega chimed in. Tails sighed heavily and shook his head.
"Get in line, bot." Knuckles growled from where he was being held back by Amy. "If anyone gets dibs on beating the snot out of him it's me."
Super stuck his tongue out at the echidna and Tails had to stifle a chuckle at Knuckles' outraged yelling. "Oh just calm down!" Amy yelled in frustration as she dragged Knuckles further away from Super's confinement. "I'm gonna go force Knuckles to lie down for a bit. Call me if you need us!" Amy called as she struggled to drag a complaining Knuckles away. Thankfully she managed.
Shaking his head fondly, Tails turned back to his work. While he appreciated things feeling somewhat normal he was still acutely aware that Sonic still needed his help. His face set in a determined look. He would figure this out for sure.
Super tapped the glass with a clawed finger and frowned. Chaos energy continued to arch off his body as he tapped a foot impatiently. These idiots really thought they could trap him? They had no idea who they were messing with. It was only a matter of time before he figured out how to get out. As soon as he was out of this stupid hamster ball he'd show them why they shouldn't mess with him.
Also they continued to hang around. Pretending that nothing was wrong or messing with him. Super didn't get it. Why? He could get why Tails stuck around. The fox was trying, in vain, to figure out how to get Sonic back. That made sense. Why did the others stick around though? Plus those looks they kept shooting him. Was it… pity? Sadness? Those looks likely weren't meant for him, but for Sonic he quickly realized. They were all hoping he'd be gone soon and their precious friend would be back. News flash though. Super didn't intend to go down without a fight. He'd worked hard enough to gain control that he wasn't planning on giving it up so easily.
Begrudgingly he had to admit the trap was well made though. His eyes darted over to the fox, who was tapping away at something. An odd feeling of fondness wormed its way into his chest. Quickly he squashed it down. He quickly flicked his eyes away. Clearly Sonic wasn't as deeply buried as he'd initially thought.
Instead he decided to focus on Shadow. That was enough to distract himself. The betrayal of their agreement still stung. That stupid hedgehog had tricked him. Him! The coward hadn't even shown his face since tricking Super. Flexing his claws he imagined all the ways he would rip Shadow to shreds once he was free. It helped calm him some.
He turned around and leaned on the glass. He didn't want to look at any of Sonic's stupid friends. Unfortunately with his back turned he didn't notice the approach of one of them. "So." Super startled at Tails' voice. Of all the people to approach him like this he hadn't expected the fox to do so. Super glanced over at Tails. Said fox was looking him over with a sad look, ears drooping slightly. "You're… Super then?" He asked hesitantly.
Super scoffed. "You already know the answer to that."
Tails nodded. " I did." He confirmed. "I just…" He trailed off twiddling his thumbs. "Wanted to talk to you I guess." He clasped his hands together and looked at Super.
"Well, you're talking to me now." Super grumbled, looking away from the fox. He didn't like the feelings that were making themselves known.
"I don't suppose you want to tell me about where you came from." Tails tried.
"You're right, I don't." Super crossed his arms.
"I guess that means you don't want to tell me how to get Sonic back either." Tails guessed.
"Correct again fox boy." Super turned to glare at him. It wasn't as intense as he'd meant it to be. "I fought hard for control and you'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands, but that would also mean killing your friend. Let's be honest, neither of us want that."
Tails perked up. "So you're reliant on Sonic being alive to survive then?" Super quickly turned away. Damn. The fox was smart, he'd give him that. "I'm taking that as a yes." Tails said after a moment of Super ignoring him. Silence stretched between them until Tails started talking again. "Clearly you're connected to the chaos emeralds in some way. Yet you never tried to get them… why?"
"Didn't need em." Super mumbled quietly. Maybe if Super actually played nice and 'talked' with the fox he'd go away faster.
Tails cocked his head in question. "You didn't need them? So you're able to maintain that level of chaos energy output without them then? Interesting." Tails placed a hand on his chin. Super waited for the next question from Tails. "In between when we saw you… what were you doing? You didn't pop up for a while after we found you initially."
Super turned to the fox in surprise. That had not been a question he was expecting. "Why do you care?" Super scowled as he turned to face Tails properly.
Tails looked up at Super. "Call me curious." When Super only continued to stare at him he pushed on. "You had plenty of time to cause chaos while we were looking for you and figuring out a way to handle you. So far as I can tell though you didn't do anything beyond when you showed up in Station Square. Why didn't you?"
"I was…" Super trailed off, looking away. Why did he feel compelled to tell the fox anyway? Perhaps Sonic was influencing him more than he thought. He looked down and flicked an ear. "I was looking around."
"Looking around?" Tails repeated, clearly confused.
Super sighed and looked back over at the fox. "Yes you can hear me just fine. I know you're not deaf." He growled out.
"Sorry I'm just… confused I guess." Tails finally said, seemingly not affected by Super's aggression.
"What's there to be confused about? I was looking around, that's all there is to it." Super huffed. Surely it wasn't that hard to understand. The fox was supposed to be smart; he shouldn't be this confused.
"But… why?" Tails asked, head tilted to the side and brow furrowed in thought.
"Why?" Super threw the question back, releasing his hands back to his sides. What was so hard to understand about this? People just explored all the time right? Well at least Sonic did from what Super could gather. Why was Tails so confused?
After a while of Super not answering Tails sighed. "It's just… you don't seem like the type. During all our encounters with you all you've wanted to do was… well kill us. You just peacefully exploring is just odd to me."
Super paused to think for a moment. He supposed that made some sort of sense. They had only seen what he'd shown them he guessed. The fox's confusion made slightly more sense but it still annoyed Super. "Well believe me or not that's what happened. I wanted to know what things were like. That's all. As fun as chasing after and fighting you lot is, it's not all I want to do." A small grin tugged at his face. "Just most of it."
Tails unconsciously backed off about a step before seemingly regaining his composure. The fox hummed. "I guess I have to ask…" Tails trailed off, ears flopping down against his head. "Why do you want to kill us?"
Super scoffed. Why? Why did things have to breathe? To eat? It was simple what he had to do. Something so rooted into his being that there was no need to question why. Baring his teeth at Tails he attempted to explain. In a way. "Don't flatter yourself. It's not a personal thing." He paused and flicked his eyes into the distance. "Mostly." He closed his eyes and held out his hands in a sort of shrug. "It's just what I am. What I was born to do. All I need to do." He opened his eyes and looked at Tails again. "Simple as that."
The fox frowned as his tails moved to curl around his legs. Sighing Tails looked Super over. "If you say so…" With that the fox slowly turned around and started walking away. After one more quick glance over his shoulder he hurried back over to whatever he was working on. Probably a way to get rid of Super. Heh. Good luck with that. Super wasn't planning on going anywhere, anytime soon.
Sonic tried to shake away the fogginess in his mind. Things were so… weird. Part of him knew things were happening, but he couldn't seem to remember what. Like it was a dream that was fading away as he woke up. He felt trapped, yet not? It didn't make any sense. Prying his eyes open he looked around. There was nothing. Nothing but what seemed like an endless black expanse. It was so dark that Sonic wasn't even sure he'd opened his eyes for a moment. Where was he? It took Sonic a while to haul himself to his feet. Every movement he made felt like he was trapped in syrup. Something clinging around him that resisted his movement, but there wasn't anything there. Sonic knew that with certainty somehow.
Finally he managed to stand; though he didn't feel steady on his feet. What happened? Everything was fuzzy. Bringing a hand up to his head he closed his eyes. Focus. What happened? How did he get to this weird void place? Slowly his head started to clear some. Flashes of memories came back to him, disjointed and lacking context. It was better than nothing though.
His ears twitched. His friends… Were his friends ok? He had been trying to protect them right? What was he protecting them from though? A flash of gold entered his mind and he froze. That. That was what he was trying to protect them from. He pulled the hand away from his face and opened his eyes. Had he failed then? He strained to remember. He'd… left. To protect them. It had been so hard to hold them back as they got more and more persistent. He was barely hanging on and then? Nothing.
Flashes of memories that were not his own became clearer. They had gotten what they wanted. With a shaky breath Sonic tried to make more sense of the images. Trying to find out if his friends… if Tails was ok. He didn't think he could forgive himself if he'd let them get hurt. He saw… a fight. With Knuckles? No Shadow. Maybe both. Knuckles seemed hurt… had they done that? Sonic looked down at his hands. Had he done that?
He shook his head as strongly as he could. No. No . He couldn't be thinking like that right now. This wasn't him, it had been them… Super… yeah. That's what they called themselves Sonic realized as a flash of a mocking voice introducing themselves as such flashed through his mind. His ears folded down as he fought off the unwanted emotions that were welling up with the slowly returning memories. He had to worry about that later. Right now he needed to stop Super and make sure his friends were safe.
His ears shot up at the sound of approaching footsteps. Somehow he instinctively knew who it was. The soft golden glow that approached lit up the dark space. While that sort of glow would normally bring comfort to Sonic, right now it had his quills raising and his fur standing on end. Every part of him screaming 'danger'. He turned around to face the approaching figure; ears once more going flat against his head.
Super regarded him with a mask of boredom, but Sonic could pick out the emotions below the surface. Super locked eyes with him before speaking. "Let's have a little chat, Sonic."